Multilingual Writers

The Writing Program recognizes the complexities of American academic and intellectual writing, and we support multilingual students - both those for whom English is a second (or third) language, and domestic students who have grown up in linguistically diverse communities. Among other things, as a multilingual student you must acclimate to a new school culture, discover the cultural preferences for responding to the work of scholars and other writers, discern appropriate methods for citation, and adjust your styles and rhetorical persona to fit the disciplinary occasion for reporting, interpreting, analyzing, and arguing.

Reading and writing in any language doesn't take place in a vacuum; these practices are anchored in disciplinary and professional contexts composed of traditions, conventions, implicit expectations, and social requirements for how collective deliberation and individual inquiry take place. We are committed to helping multilingual writers of all backgrounds adjust and thrive at Davidson.

Every semester, the Writing Program offers at least one section of Writing 101: "Writing in the Liberal Arts" that has been prepared with multilingual writers in mind. We encourage you to enroll in this section, which examines issues where politics, sociality, and language intersect, and offers strategies for success in your academic writing tasks at Davidson.

We also encourage you to discuss drafts of your written work with peer tutors in the Writing Center. At the center, tutors consult with writers about anything related to the process of composing, including gathering thoughts, reading critically, framing claims and ideas, refashioning sentences and revising robustly.

For specialized tutoring in English language writing, you can schedule 50-minute sessions with Professor Rebecca Fernandez, coordinator of multilingual writing and assistant professor of rhetoric and writing studies.